Programs for Children, Teens and Families in December

Warren Civic Center Library has several programs during the month of December:

Arts and Scraps for children aged 4 to 11 on Saturday, December 4th at 11:00 a.m.

Gifts from the Kitchen for teens 12 to 17 on Monday, December 6th at 6:00 p.m.

Winter Wonderland Sing-Along for all ages on Saturday, December 18th at 11:00 a.m.

Registration is required for each of these programs. For more information and to register, please call (586) 751-0770.

The Warren Miller Library will have Crafts for Kids on Saturday, December 11th, running all day. All kids are welcome - drop in and make two holiday decorations - one to take home and one to decorate the library. No registration required. If you have any questions, please call (586) 751-5377.

Thurday, December 16th at 6:30 p.m., the Warren Burnette Branch will have a Christmas Celebration. Children ages 3-8 are welcome to celebrate the holiday season with us with Letters to Santa, crafts, treats and a Christmas cartoon. Some crafts may require parental assistance. Registration is required; space is limited. Call (586) 758-2115.

Come and celebrate the holiday season at your local Warren library.

Happy Thanksgiving!

All Warren Public Library branches will be closed Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 25, 26 & 27 for Thanksgiving. Have a wonderful and safe holiday!

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT - Introduction to Genealogy

Come to a free "Introduction to Genealogy" program on Monday, November 8th at 10:00 a.m. at the Arthur Miller Branch of the Warren Public Library. Learn the basics of searching for your family history, how to use the Heritage Quest database to search U.S. census records in the comfort of your own home, researching vital records, military records and more using free web sites and Ancestry Library Edition, and discover a free genealogy program you can download to your home computer.

Registration is required. To register, and for more information, please call (586) 751-5377.
The Arthur Miller Library is located inside the Warren Community Center at 5460 Arden, west of Mound Road and north of 13 Mile.

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT - Adult Scrapbooking Club at the Miller Library

WHEN : Monday, September 27, 2010 from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. in the Miller Library

This free program, sponsored by the Friends of the Warren Public Library, is for the beginning to advanced scrapbooker. Teens 13 and older are welcome when accompanied by an adult.

Please bring pictures and any supplies you'd like. The library will provide scissors, trimmers, paper of various sizes, stickers, rubber stamps and acrylic stamps, inks, several different kinds of adhesives and tools to make die-cut embellishments. Use the Cricut Electronic Die-cut machine, and learn scrapbooking techniques such as heat embossing and stamping.

Registration is required - please call (586) 751-5377 to register.

The Arthur Miller Library is located on 5460 Arden (west of Mound Road, between 13 & 14 Mile) inside the Warren Community Center.

Storytime Registration starts today!

Fall Storytime registration begins today - the sessions run from the week of September 27 through November 20th. For all storytime slots, Warren residents are accepted first.

Book Tots (Ages 1- 2 1/2 years with parent or caregiver) are held at the Arthur Miller Branch - Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., Friday mornings at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Call the Miller Branch at 586-751-5377 to register.

Toddler Time (Ages 2 & 3 years with parent or caregiver) are held at the Civic Center Library - Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. and 11;00 a.m., plus Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. Call 586-751-0770 to register.

Preschool Storyhour (Ages 3 1/2 to 5 years) are held at the Maybelle Burnette Branch on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Call 586-758-2115 to register.

All branches are now open

All four branches of the Warren Public Library are now open, as of Thursday, August 12th. So drop by your neighborhood library for a book, magazine, music CD, book on disk, movie, etc. We're here to serve you.

Thank you Warren voters and library users

Thanks to you, the voters, the outlook for the Warren Public Library is looking very bright. The three closed branches will re-open in the near future (we'll post here when we know the specific date). There will be more funds for books, AV material and online databases, as well as the needed building upgrades to the Busch and Burnette branches. Let us know what you'd like to see in your local branch - types of materials, programs, etc. We're here to serve you. Thank you again.

Outside of a Dog, #98

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Insider of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx.

Most everyone loves giving their home a fresh look. Often it’s the expense that holds folks back from undertaking a major or even a minor redecorating project. Often professional decorating books are a bit impractical for the average time stressed home owner. The following books offer a host of inexpensive, imaginative, and doable suggestions to give any room in your house a makeover.

Dime Store Decorating: Using Flea Market Finds with Style by Jill Williams Grover

Lavishly illustrated the author presents new and unusual ideas for decorating with ordinary discounted items from dollar stores, flea markets, and thrift shops. Used as accents and accessories they can add an affordable creative touch to your living space.

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Matt & Shari Read Decorating for Real People by Shari Hiller and Max Fox

The stars of HGTV’s Room by Room Matt and Shari show you how to transform your home into a warm and welcoming environment that reflects your individual personality and fits your lifestyle. The book offers practical tips for saving time and money as well as several easy to understand project instructions.

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$500 Room Makeovers by Lisa Quinn

In more than twenty fabulous room makeovers the author shows how to make the most of any room’s best features. Loaded with ideas for making any home reflect the personal style of its owners this book is sure to offer up some inspiration that’s not terribly expensive.

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Organizing Idea Book by John Loecke

Of course, “getting organized” can mean different things to different people. But chances are no matter what direction or level your quest to organize takes you, it will ultimately make you feel good. It gives you a certain satisfaction that your life and environment are manageable and under control. Divided by areas in the home Loecke gives readers dozens of unique ideas to downsize clutter and control the general messiness of everyday living.

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Reminder - Summer Reading Club ends Saturday

Don't miss out! Bring in your Summer Reading Club logs by this Saturday to earn prizes and tokens for the big prize drawing being held during the Ending Celebration on July 31st for Summer Reading Club Participants Only.

The Ending Celebration will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the Civic Center Conference Room next door to the library - there will be entertainment, prize drawings and a snack. Drawings will be done from the tokens you receive by completing each Reading Log. You do not need to be present to win.

You don't have to be a child to love this book!

Title: Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life by Anita Silvey


The Plot: There isn’t any plot. This is a delightful coffee table sort of book that you can open and just begin reading. More than 100 notables from all walks of life including politics, the arts, and business leaders remember a children’s book they loved. They explain why and how the particular title had an enduring and profound impact on their life.
Each essay is accompanied by a short excerpt from the book as well as some delightfully selected illustrations.

Why You’ll Love It: Many readers began their personal love affair with books in their childhood. This book will most likely entertain as well as bring back some fond memories.

Who Should Read It: Anyone who spent their childhood summers engrossed in Treasure Island, Little House on the Prairie, Little Women, or Goodnight Moon will find this book a delight. It will also make a wonderful graduation gift as each of the selections gives readers a wealth of advice and insight.

So Long and Thanks from All the Fish at the Miller Library

This week, the Arthur Miller Library staff and patrons said "So Long" (temporarily, we hope!) to the fish in the aquarium inside the Miller Library. The fish are "on vacation" until the Library Millage vote on August 3rd.

We'd like to thank the Friends of the Warren Public Library, who donated the aquarium and have provided care for the fish at the Arthur Miller Library for the past 7 years.

How Large is the Library?

Did you know that the Warren Public Library has 170,296 books? If you read one book every day, it would take you 466 years to read everything we own! Listen to a CD a day? That would be 32 years of your time. Movies? You’re looking at 45 years of hard time! Flipping through one magazine title per day would take you almost 3 years, not including back issues!

When the neighborhood branches – Busch, Burnette, and Miller – close next week, patrons will only have access to the Civic Center collection, which includes 55,672 books, 6,126 DVDs, 3,229 CDs, and 444 magazine titles. While that’s still quite a chunk of time reading and watching one by one – you’d spend 179.4 years doing it all – imagine how much more you’d have to choose from if the libraries reopen in August.

A few more numbers to crunch:

How many books do you borrow in a year? If it’s only one per week, using the library has saved you $1,200 per year.

That’s 184 McDonald’s lunches:

638 gallons of milk:

25 tanks of gas:

39 nights out at the movies (2 tickets, 2 drinks, 1 popcorn.):

or 4 video game systems!

How much is the library worth to you? Do your own calculations by using our Value Calculator!

Take this book home with you!

Today’s Book: Almost Home, Pam Jenoff


The Plot: American State Department employee, Jordan Weiss, maneuvers a new work assignment to England. In reality she wants to be geographically closer to her friend Sarah who is suffering with ALS. When Jordan arrives she is called upon to investigate the Albanian mob and a money laundering scheme. Complicating her return are unresolved feelings about her college lover Jared who died in an apparent drowning ten years ago.

Why you’ll Love it: Jenoff does a masterful job of blending romance, friendship, loyalty, and political mayhem along with a shady bit of World War II history into a suspenseful and multi-layered novel.

Who Should Read it?: Readers who enjoy suspense stories with a good deal of character development will find much to appreciate here.

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*Look for Jenoff's follow-up to this novel, Hidden Things, coming July 2010!

Outside of a Dog, #97

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx.

The recent recession, political scandals, decline of Michigan’s automobile industry, unemployment, the massive oil spill, the unstable stock market…..the bad news seems to be every where - unrelenting and endless. Why not lose yourself for an hour or two in a book that might just make you laugh out loud. It won’t solve our global issues but just might offer a short interval of comic relief.

I feel bad about my neck and other thoughts on being a woman – Nora Ephron

You don’t have to be a woman of a “certain age” to appreciate this book. Ephron, who earned her professional reputation writing popular original screenplays such as When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail gives readers a series of candid, hilarious, and genuinely rich essays dealing with women. Women who are getting older and dealing with the challenges of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, winding down careers, and life itself.

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Pure drivel – Steve Martin

Here one of the most enduring and famous comic talents translates his physical performance to the printed page with this very funny collection of essays covering everything from aging to friendship to travel, and even comedy.

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Money $ecrets – Dave Barry

Money is one of our most misunderstood, fascinating, and in some ways taboo topics. Noted humorist Dave Barry give us his take on how the U.S. economy really works, a foolproof system for making money in the stock market, why good colleges cost too much, tips for buying and selling real estate, and much much more.

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You can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning – Celia Rivenbark

From religion to recipes, from carpools to cats, Ms. Rivenbark offers us her sharp and witty views. Sometimes these written rants are down right mean, sometimes shocking, but always hilarious as she dares to say things we might only think on a wide variety of unique subjects.

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When will Jesus bring the pork chops? – George Carlin

The late author of two previous bestsellers and countless comedy albums Carlin gives us in written form his highly irreverent views on our American way of life. Often silly, sometimes a bit off color, and often times quite poignant, his observations of our culture are truly original as well as thought-provoking.

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Outside of a Dog, #96

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

June means graduation. Graduation speeches. Graduation parties. Graduation ceremonies. The following books offer a wealth of well meaning advice and consult to all those graduates starting life after high school or college.

A Short Guide to a Happy Life – Anna Quindlen

Here best selling novelist and columnist, Anna Quindlen reflects on what it takes to “get a life”. She offers a unique perspective on how to live our lives in genuinely honest and enduring ways. It’s a slim book at only 50 pages but jam packed with valuable advice.

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Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime – William H. Gates, Sr.

The father of computer business giant Bill Gates offers some easily understood but valuable lessons learned from a long life. Chapter headings include “Open-Mindedness”, “Learning how to Lose”, “Getting Along.” These and many others offer down-to-earth, practical wisdom for not only potential graduates but any one of us.

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Just Who Will You Be? – Maria Shriver

This small, candid, and inspirational book’s theme is that what you do in your life isn’t what really matters. It’s who you are that is more important. It’s an important lesson the will appeal to anyone of any age looking to live a life of meaning and value.

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The Art of Friendship: 70 Simple Rules for Making Meaningful Connections – Roger Horchow and Sally Horchow

The frantic pace and casualness of our current lives have made forming real and lasting friendships a bit more of a challenge. Thoughtfully written, this book gives readers ideas, suggestions, and options to help us recognize how valuable friendships truly are in our very busy culture and how vitally important it is to maintain them throughout our life.

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What Should I Do with My Life? The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question – Po Bronson

It’s a question many of us have asked ourselves at one time or another. A total of 55 individuals answered his question with surprising and fascinating results. With a lot of humor, insight, and empathy, Po Bronson proves the depths of a wide variety of folks who often overcame fear and trepidation to chart a new direction for their lives.

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Author Profile: Cory Doctorow

(Image credit - Jonathan Worth)

Author Cory Doctorow is a digital-rights activist, blogger, speaker, father, and has written books across several genres, including the nonfiction “Content” and the young adult “Little Brother” – which we reviewed last year. Doctorow is a writer and contributor for boingboing, a blog about “tech, culture, and liberty.” Many of his books are available as free downloads from his website, where you’ll also find information about Creative Commons licenses (as seen above), as well as interesting news from the tech world. While all of Doctorow’s books have a decidedly techie bent, you don’t need to be a techie to enjoy them – just be prepared for an interesting ride that will make you care about the characters, and never want to put the book down (or turn the computer off!).

Little Brother

Taking its title as a check to the "Big Brother" in George Orwell's classic 1984, Little Brother gives the reader an intense and satisfying modern view of a post-9/11 world that is scary in more ways than one. Watch the suspense as teenage hacker Marcus and his friends try to outwit the government's technology and live their lives normally again.

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Makers

Corporate giants and micro-projects are the focus of this novel about a pair of genius geeks who have more ideas than they know what to do with. They find cures for various conditions and diseases, new ways to run theme parks, and cheap 3D printing. Their ideas can cause them trouble, of course, and we see the effects of technology's rapid changes through booms and busts.

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Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present

A treasure trove of scifi stories is presented here, in several novellas featuring takes on gold farmers (which you'll also find in 2010's For the Win), zombies, robots, and system administrators. Doctorow is aces at exploring the possibilities of technology, so if you enjoy speculative fiction, this is the one for you.

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Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Doctorow's very first novel shows his love for Disney theme parks. In this Locus-award winner, where the technologically immortal intend to take over the Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents at the theme park. Left to stop them is a century-old named Jules, whose boyhood dream was to take up residence at Disney World. Jules' story is a wild ride (and not just when he's riding the rides) through technology and dreams.

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Outside of a Dog, #95

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

All of us no matter what age or stage in life want to look attractive and even more important stay healthy. The following titles offer some interesting and different approaches to achieving those goals.

Old is the New Young - Mark Erickson, Matt Narrett, Jacquelyn Kung, and Lisa Davila

This book has the mission of empowering senior adults to live healthier, happier, and more active lives. Chapters on physical health, social concerns, and retirement challenges are all thoughtfully written with practical and useful advice offered to readers. Erickson himself is the CEO of a senior housing development that serves approximately 22,000 seniors.

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Grow Younger, Live Longer: 10 Steps to Reverse Aging - Deepak Chopra

Best selling author and spiritual counselor Chopra gives readers a complete manual for renewal and reversing aging. Each of the ten steps discussed translate into three daily activities or assignments. A lot of old fashioned common sense about diets, exercise, and spirituality is offered with a touchy feely new age influence.

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Gary Null’s Power Aging: The Revolutionary Program to Control the Symptoms of Aging Naturally - Gary Null

Another staple of public television, Gary Null has written dozens of books and made multiple program appearances. His wellness program is based on sensible science and a variety of mind-over-body techniques, allowing followers to attempt to reverse, eliminate, and control the signs of aging.

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Ten Years Younger: The Amazing Ten-Week Plan to Look Better, Feel Better, and Turn Back the Clock - Steven Masley

The author feels that Americans on the whole are aging faster than ever, with conditions like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease increasing the aging process earlier and earlier. His advice covers diet, supplements, exercise, and social relationships aimed at helping readers eliminate bad habits and increase life expectancy.

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Author Profile: Chris Bohjalian

Chris Bohjalian, author of Oprah’s Book Club pick “Midwives,” chosen in 1998, has since been ever more prolific with his touching novels of family life. He lives in Vermont with his wife, a photographer, in a house that inspired his novel “The Hangman.” If you enjoy thought-provoking emotional reads, try one of these favorites:

Secrets of Eden (2010)
A literary thriller involving a murdered woman, her pastor, her family and other families like hers, “Secrets of Eden” explores grief and the things we keep to ourselves and our closest confidantes, no matter what their effect on others may end turn out to be. Bohjalian touches on the meaning of faith, and the controversy of domestic abuse, among other deep topics in this newest novel.
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Before You Know Kindness (2004)
A large family’s years of New England vacations are quite literally shot down, when one of the children accidentally fires a hunting rifle. This event sets in motion a court case and family trauma aplenty. While it looks like a dramatic novel, there are parts here that resonate with satire, especially those that involve PETA-lookalike FERAL.
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Trans-Sister Radio (2000)
Few, if any novels currently out handle the subject of transsexuals as though it is a normal situation. Bohjalian does this adroitly, with this novel of Alison, a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual, and how she falls in love with Dana Stevens, just a few months shy of her surgery. The author takes this highly-charged story and makes it a careful tale of controversy and love.
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The Buffalo Soldier (2002)
From the loss of two daughters to the gain of a foster son, “The Buffalo Soldier” deals with Bohjalian’s usual territory: family trauma, usually that motivated by grief and loss. Here, the story is about the Sheldons, whose loss of two daughters in a flood leads to the fostering of Alfred, a 10-year-old African American boy. Through Alfred’s research into the titular ‘buffalo soldiers’ of the Civil War, and the Sheldons’ infidelities, we learn about the meaning of marriage, the bond between parents and children, and the quiet insights of grief.
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Outside of a Dog, #94

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

One of the most important elements of any successful job search is the interview. If you are lucky enough to find an employment opening that matches your career skills, luckier still to be scheduled for an interview, you’ve accomplished a very crucial first step. Yet, the interview itself is critical for eventual success. There are a lot of books detailing how to put together a good looking resume and cover letter. Here are a few titles that highlight the next step in the process, how to do well on the interview.

Don’t Blow the Interview: How to Prepare, What to Expect, and How to React – Ralph Ferrone

In today’s extremely competitive job market interviewing well is an essential part of any job search strategy. This book offers advice on dressing and etiquette, common interview questions and suggestions for effective answers, as well as what to do or not do after the interview process is completed.

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101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview – Ron Fry

Most people anticipating a job interview focus on what their answers will be to a variety of questions, yet everyone who has experienced interviewing is almost always asked somewhere in the meeting “Do you have any questions for us?” This book attempts to give you the skills and insight to answer that question and present yourself as a confident and poised candidate.

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Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed – Anthony H. Medley

This is a classic title that is revised and reissued almost every other year since its first publication in the early 1990s. It’s detailed, serious in tone, and covers a wide selection of topics such as the different types of interviews you might experience, sample questions and answers, and how to combat the expected nervousness. A must read for anyone undertaking a professional or business interview.

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How to Say It: Job Interviews – Linda Matias

The author gives you the tools aptly named “Your Interview Tool Kit” to succeed in any interview situation. She describes several different types of interviews such as the informational interview, the screening interview, or team interview. She suggests some original answers to typical interview questions and even offers advice on handling what might be an inappropriate or even illegal interview question.

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301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions – Vicky Oliver

Do questions like “Do you consider yourself a leader? Why or why not?” “Are you a better visionary or implementer?” “Are you Jewish?” “What did you dislike most about your past jobs?” give you pause? If so, don’t panic this books offers practical and intelligent answers to those questions and many more. This title gives you the skills and attitude to finesse your way through any question, even the most ridiculous and far fetched including “If you could be any color of crayon in the box what would you be?”

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Read This Book: White Cat, by Holly Black

Today’s Book: White Cat (The Curse Workers #1) by Holly Black


A Little Background: The setting is something of a parallel universe - our world, but not exactly - in the modern era of computers and the like. Where it differs, of course, is in the inclusion of a section of people who can work curses simply by touching you with their bare hands. In this book, we learn about emotion workers, body workers (who can break bones with a touch), luck workers, memory workers, dream workers, and two rarer groups: death workers and transformation workers. In the United States of this America, Working is a crime, which means that criminals do the Working - the top crime families (like the mob) all have big Worker populations. To protect oneself against "the touch," everyone wears gloves and you can buy amulets against curses along with a pack of smokes at the gas station, though there's no guarantee it'll be as good as one purchased from a psychic's tent at a dirt mall.

The Meat of the Story: Cassel Sharpe, youngest of three brothers in a Worker family, has no power of his own. His eldest brother, Philip, works for the Zacharov family, and bears a necklace of scars to prove it, which is likened to the Yakuza practice of counting prison years (look it up.) Three years ago, Cassel killed his friend Lila Zacharov, and now can only remember standing over her bloody body with a knife and a satisfied smile. Now, he's taking after his mother's con-man (con-woman) roots by running a numbers game out of his room at his private boarding school.
When he gets temporarily kicked out for sleepwalking, and sent home to work with his brothers and his retired death-worker Grandad, things start to spiral out of his control, and he finds that his life isn't what he thought it was.
What you’ll Love About It: It’s interspersed with great asides about what Cassel loves about the con, and enough background on the Workers and their history, so that you feel like even though this isn’t your world, you know enough about it that it makes sense to you. You’ll be drawn in by veteran writer Black, and eagerly await the other books in this series; the next is Red Glove, which is likely due out sometime next year.


Bonus: To advertise the books, the Curse Workers website offers banners like these, that might actually show up on billboards and subway signs in Cassel's world.

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